It seems the news is filled with stories of planes crashing or going missing the past few years. It feels like every time I get home from work and turn on the news, I am seeing another report of a plane crash killing dozens to hundreds of people. Air travel is statistically the safest way to travel around the globe, but it can still be extremely scary and stressful. Well in November of 2015, Africa experienced one of these tragedies first hand.
It was November 4, 2015 when the accident occurred. It was a Russian Antonov type plane that had taken off from the international airport located in the South Sudanese capital of Juba.
The cargo plane full of passengers had just taken off when it crashed into a small farming community. The plane was completely and utterly destroyed.
Investigators arrived on scene a short while later. After surveying the crash site, they were not optimistic of finding survivors. After seeing the wreckage, one can’t really blame them. It basically became an operation to collect the bodies.
As crews were cleaning debris and removing the bodies of the victims, they found something left them absolutely speechless.
Buried beneath the rubble, they found a tiny, crying baby girl. Rescuers almost couldn’t believe their eyes.
The little girls name is Nyalou Thong. It is believed that she was traveling with her mother and brothers on the plane when it went down. Not much other than that is known about her.
Nyalou suffered a broken leg, and a few other minor injuries. Other than that she is perfectly healthy however. She was taken to a local hospital for treatment and will make a full recovery.
Rescuers immediately started to contact members of Nyalou’s family. This truly a great tragedy for so many families. However, if we allow ourselves to look on the brighter side of things, an adorable little baby girl did survive. That is cause of celebration. One other person did survive the initial crash, however they later succumbed to their injuries at the hospital.